A Tale of Red and Blue
by Kiristo
Summary: Blue wakes up after the Red Legion attack outside of the City wall without Ghost. Without him, she struggles to just stay alive. Meanwhile, Yiaz gets stuck on Mars and Momo just wants to find out if he's alive. Warnings: violence, depictions of death, and language. *DISCONTINUED*
1. Chapter 1

Something was rumbling outside. Thunder maybe? She couldn't recall hearing any news of a storm. Wasn't it supposed to be clear and sunny this week? Then again where was she? She thought she was sleeping, so in her bed at her apartment was the likely answer. This didn't feel like her bed though, it was hard, cold, and uncomfortable. She frowned. So not home then. Maybe they had camped somewhere. A storm might make sense if they were at Venus since the weather wasn't predictable. She listened again and tried to focus through the haze in her mind. She wanted to go back to sleep but the rumbling vibrated through her this time, disturbing her. Can't be thunder, she decided. The rumbling wasn't exactly consistent like thunder. It varied: louder or softer, rapid or singular. In fact, if she thought hard enough about it was kind of like…. _gunfire_.

Blue jolted and immediately regretted doing so. Pain shot through her skull, her left arm, and her left side. The split second of blurry sight she had started to tunnel to black again. Hissing in a breath through her teeth she turned her face back into the dirt so her forehead rested on the ground. With her eyes screwed shut she focused on breathing and tried to ignore the pain. She had a strong sense of deja vu. Something like this had happened before but not in the time since her Ghost fist resurrected her. _Ghost_.

Blue forced her eyes opened and looked around. Where was he? She was alive, that much was certain, but why was she still so hurt? Ghost always healed her when he revived her. Something was pinning her to the ground so she was lying on her stomach. She pushed herself up slightly to lean on her right elbow and look around. The world spun for a moment before she was able to take in her surroundings. The wall of the City was to her left so she was in the outskirts among the wilderness. The trees and brush nearest the wall were on fire and airships littered the ground in pieces around her. Blue twisted to see what was pinning her down. Her own jump ship. Or at least part of it. Great.

That was right, they crashed in the midst of a fight, didn't they? Ok, first things first she needed to get unstuck. Then find her Ghost. She twisted her body and tested how much room she could work with. Inch by inch she dug and twisted the dirt under her to create a ditch and crawl out of her little prison. Once free she dragged herself away from the twisted remains of her ship and to a safer spot. Taking a moment to regain her bearings she determined that her left arm was at least fractured and a rib on her left side, maybe two ribs, were bruised if not cracked. Slowly, she hoisted herself up to her knees and looked back at her ship. Only half of it was here meaning the rest was somewhere else. Blue took in a deep breath, using meditation techniques Ikora taught her and tried to focus.

 _Remember_.

Cabal. Cabal attacked the City. That's right. She had been on her way back from a mission when Ghost intercepted a short-range radio signal that the City was under attack. They engaged the Cabal in the air but they were outnumbered and outgunned. Her jump ship got shot down and right before Ghost could transmat them to safety she felt as if something tore her soul apart. They lost control. The wing of her ship collided with another ship, ripping the hull apart. She vaguely remembered seeing half the ship hit the wall and tumbling into the City. Her last memory before passing out was the image of trees spiraling towards her.

Blue blinked. She was alive but injured meaning Ghost didn't revive her so she managed to survive the crash on her own. But her Ghost...Blue shook her head. She refused to believe he was gone. She had to at least look for him. She pushed herself to her feet and staggered back to the remains of her ship.

Blue managed to salvage her scout rifle with limited ammo from the wreckage but nothing else. The navigation systems in her ship were destroyed and even if they did work they were useless without the satellites. The communication and main power components of the ship were gone. Probably either with the other half or thrown elsewhere in the resulting collision. Ghost might be able to pick on any short-range radio signals or other Ghosts to locate survivors. But he's not here. Her heart ached. There was no trace of him in this wreckage and she really hoped he wasn't crushed under the bulk of the hull. Maybe he was just taken away with the other half into the City. She also needed to find any other Guardians or the Vanguard to regroup and plan a counter attack. She frowned at her favorite Warlock robes before she tore off the long coattails and fashioned a makeshift sling for her broken arm. Blue gave one more remorseful glance back at the remains of her poor jump ship. She'd worked hard to buy that and Ghost had helped her paint it. She sighed, steeled herself and began the ungraceful limp towards the Wall.


	2. Chapter 2

Getting into the City was the easy part. Cabal weren't in her area yet and she could crawl into the wall through small a hole made by an explosion. She navigated the large inner structure, climbing support beams and scaffolding until she found another hole. Though the exposed metal and wires tore her up.

But once she was in the real extent of the damage overwhelmed her. The City was a warzone and something ominous clung to the Traveler. An angry red glow seethed beneath the apparatus. Smoke suffocated the once open and vast sky above the City. Once lit by hundreds of thousands of small lights scattered across buildings, street lamps, cars, and aircrafts the City was now only lit by fire. The devastation was enough to make her nauseous but it was the looming figure of the crippled Tower in the distance that really turned her stomach. The only home she knew, or remembered, that used to fill her with warmth was gone. The people she had come to care about…

 _No_. She shook her head. _I can't afford to think about that. I just need to push forward.. Everything will be ok. It always is._

Cabal patrols littered the City and would probably start around the Wall perimeter soon too. She counted her lucky stars she woke up before that happened. Blue didn't see any other life besides Cabal but she could hear gunfire in the distance and she frowned at the implications. The Cabal didn't take prisoners. She had to hope that the civilians managed to evacuate or hide while Guardians fought.

 _At least Guardians can get back up_...She thought but something about it made her uneasy. She couldn't feel the Light anymore so what if Guardians can't-No. It must be because she's injured and lost Ghost that she can't feel the Light yet. Nothing to do with that thing on the Traveler, it can't be. The Cabal aren't smart enough to be able to take the Light. The Light wouldn't just leave them, the Traveler- . . .

Other Guardians are still fighting, they have to be. Guardians aren't that easy to kill. She sighed, adjusting her hold on her scout rifle and peeking out from her hiding place in an alley. Then she ran.

Avoiding the stomping Legionnaires and Centurions was simple enough. Cabal aren't exactly known for stealth and they were too large to fit into the small cracks and crevices that Blue could. Thrashers and Psions were a different story.

At the sound of humming engines, she ducked out of the open-roofed alley and into the shadows under the awning of a collapsed street shop. A bright light fanned out over the street from overhead and Blue held her breath. Sure enough, the aircraft soon let out a loud announcement over their speakers, which she couldn't understand, before it continued on. She exhaled and looked both ways down the street to make sure there were no Cabal patrols accompanying it before continuing on.

She stayed close to the Wall, surveying the now empty shops and buildings, looking for survivors. She investigated any downed ships looking for her own or for material she could salvage and use: communication devices, power, weapons. Unfortunately, this was a very unlucky day for her. Everything seemed to be picked cleaned, likely by Cabal or survivors.

The debris she expected but for each dead body she found the pit in her chest grew further. She was a Guardian but she could do very little now. She was useless. Blue didn't want to even begin to fathom the amount of cleaning up and burials they'd have to take care of when this was all over.

 _If it ever comes to that._ A dark voice in the back of her head said. She shook it off.

Coming up through the remains of a shopping district she entered a community square and gasped. Benches, sign posts, and kiosks filled the vast area but there was no longer any life here. That didn't matter to her at the moment. The sight of a metallic triangle sticking up into the air painted in a brilliant display of blue and white swirls drew a smile to her face. Right before it set into a glare. In the center of the square was a huge fountain. In the center of the fountain was the remains of her ship and there was a lot of water spouting in and around it. Not good.

Of course….Of course, it would land there.

Blue didn't even need to check the power systems and communications to know they were compromised at this point. The ship was in thousands of pieces anyway and there was no way she would be able to put together anything useful. She hobbled to the debris anyway, wading into the water, and began to search. If nothing else maybe Ghost was here. But the more she dug and flipped things over the more her hope faded. He wasn't here. Or if he was he was crushed. Despair started to sink in again. Somehow losing him seemed like such a foreign concept, but now-

A little flash of bluish light caught her attention and she dove into the remains of her ship. Peeking out from the lattice work of exposed wires and metal she looked for the light again with the barrel of her rifle sticking out of one of the holes just in case. Her breath hitched and she froze. The light was small as it peeked out from an ally across the street, looked back and forth briefly, then darted back into the shadows.

Could it be? It sure as hell was familiar and close to her ship. Her heart soared with newfound hope.

Blue withdrew her gun and made to stand but the sound of stomping stopped her. A moment later a Cabal patrol came storming through the street. Two lines of Legionnaires, a Psion behind each, a Centurion bringing up the rear with two Psions behind him. A similar pattern she noticed with other lines of patrols. She quickly brought out her journals and made a note of it.

She smirked to herself, _That Warlock was right, it is useful._

Blue watched as the patrol pass right by her and remained perfectly still. Her palms became clammy under the leather of her gloves and she started to feel hot. She hoped the pounding of her heart was only deafening in her head and not loud enough for them to hear.

 _Légionnaire, Psion, Légionnaire, Psion, Centuria-_

Immediately her eyes fixed back to the alley and to her joy, the blue light appeared once more but further back. Blue smiled, He's watching too. Then it disappeared again.

Once the patrol was out of sight she slung her rifle over her shoulder with the strap, got up, and hobbled across the street. The light was moving away but not far. For each new alley or street she turned onto she could see it just before it darted to another. She cursed silently, it was never looking in her direction. She quickened her pace. The light flickered and fluttered past the wall of a collapsed building and into the street and she stumbled after it. Her side was screaming for rest but she ignored it as she ran around the corner.

"Gh-...Ghost." She croaked out, her voice not used to the strain of talking.

She was blinded by a bright, white light. She screwed her eyes shut as her vision danced with dark spots and raised her hand to block the light. Once her eyes adjusted and she looked up, expecting to see the familiar friendly eye staring back at her. Her heart nearly stopped. Instead of her friend a red and silver scrawny suit of armor with a horned head stood several feet in front of her pointing a gun at her.

 _Traveler help us_ , Blue allowed herself this one last prayer before what would likely be her final death.

A staccato of shots rang out followed by a small explosion as the Psion's head burst in a spray of metallic fluid. Blue stared as it collapsed, too stunned to move, until something grabbed her arm and forced her away. Her back hit a wall sending shockwaves of pain up her spine. Once the pains began to subside she registered someone was speaking to her. Or more like shouting.

"What on Earth were you thinking?!"

 _A Titan. Of course…_ Blue registered before opening her mouth to speak.

"No, nevermind, don't answer that. That's the problem with you Warlocks you think too much! In case you haven't noticed we're in the middle of a war or did you not get the messages? Where's your Ghost? Didn't it tell you?!"

Blue frowned and looked at the droid floating just beyond the Titan's shoulder. It's white and red shell was heavily damaged as it stared at the ground. It wasn't her Ghost. She had been chasing his Ghost, not hers. The thought was crushing. The Titan seemed to notice her forlorn expression as she stared at it.

"Uhg...Nevermind. Listen, Ghost or no the Light is gone and you can't be resurrected even if your Ghost was still with you."

Blue froze. So it wasn't just her, everyone was cut off from the Light. The Cabal did succeed.

"Citizens are evacuating the City and Guardians are being called back to help escort them to safety. There's nothing left here for us to defend. The Cabal have control for now."

Blue didn't respond. She didn't even look at the Titan and just stared off. How could this happen?

The Titan's fists clenched and unclenched, "There's an old subway station about five miles East of this location that runs just under the Wall. It was condemned but thankfully construction never got around filling it and the old entrance was covered over instead. One of the Cabal ships took down some buildings in that area and exposed the entrance. Some Tower engineers brought tools there and cut an escape route up through the old concrete and the Wall. That's where we're smuggling refugees out of the City and it's our duty to escort them safely."

Blue nodded numbly. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she figured that was better than how she got in. Her arms and legs still protested their painful scrapes and scratches she had received.

"Wait here, I'll check to make sure it's clear and then we can get to the tunnels," The Titan commanded and stepped out of their hiding place. He took two steps back towards the street before Blue heard a high pitched whir followed by a shot and beam of light passed nearby. The Titan stiffened for a moment before collapsing in a heap. Blue found she couldn't breath once again.

"Guardian!" The little Ghost shouted before zipping over to the Titan. A light shown from its eye on the Guardian. "Oh no, Traveler, please no…" The distraught metallic voice repeated over and over. Blue was frozen. She stared at the little droid's futile attempts to raise its charge. The Guardian was shot in the head and without Light, there was no getting back up. Blood began to seep out of the cracks in the Titan's helmet as the Ghost continued to scan him. Death wasn't anything new to her. She had gone down plenty of times but she always got up. She had heard of Guardians who fell and never got up but she had never seen it. Seeing it happen like this-

A moment later another shot ended the Ghosts' despair. The shell clattered to the ground, sporting a new hole going through it. The once bright eye was now a black void.

Blue became light headed. With a gasp, she tore her eyes away from the sight and squeezed them shut. Her chest felt constricted as she struggled to regulate her breathing. Without her Ghost, she wouldn't be healed or revived if she passed out now from hyperventilating. The Psion who killed the Titan and his Ghost must still be out there and if it saw the Titan pull her behind the wall her cover was compromised. She was going to die for real this time. She was going to die if she didn't do something right now.

"Psions are smart but they aren't that smart. They almost always duck out of cover a few seconds too long when they shoot. That gives you just enough time to strike back as long as you're faster than them," She recalled her Fireteam-mate, Momo, telling her once when she first became a Guardian. She brought her rifle around to her right hand. She would have to trust her judgement to aim based on the angle she saw the laser beam as it shot through the Titan and Ghost.

Blue jumped out from hiding and began firing at the second story windows in the building across the street. Another beam of light whizzed by and grazed the side of her helmet. As it did she was rewarded with the sound of the Psion's scream and the satisfying thud as it fell out a window and hit the ground. Panting, she ducked back behind the wall, wary of anymore Cabal in the area. She couldn't stay here. More would be swarming the area shortly. But she was panicking, her breathing coming in short and rapid, her eyes watering, and her legs numb.

 _Get to the tunnels._

That single thought and the adrenaline of battle would have to be enough. She slung the rifle over her shoulder with the strap and began to move when the sight of the Titan and dead Ghost caught her eye again. Picking up the Ghost she stared at the shell a moment when and a sickening thought overtook her and made her light headed. When she first saw it's light bobbing in the alley was when the patrol went by.

 _Centurions are flanked by two Psions._

She didn't wait for the full line of patrol to pass before running out in the street. The Psions must have been lagging behind, seen her and followed her.

 _They're dead forever now because of me._

Blue dropped the Ghost, ripped off her helmet, and vomited.


	3. Chapter 3

As the Titan said, the tunnels were only a few miles away from where they were. A block away from her current hiding place lay the rubble of a building and amidst it the opening to a hole in the ground. A red Hunter cloak was tied to a metal rod sticking out of the rubble.

Blue looked down at the dead Ghost and her hand tightened around the shell. She told herself she brought it to give it a proper burial when she could because she couldn't do the same for the fallen Guardian.

 _Maybe it's sentiment_ , she lamented, _Or maybe you just want a reminder to not be so careless next time_ , a darker voice in her head spoke up.

A shiver ran up her spine and she tucked the Ghost into her makeshift sling. She whipped dirt off her helmet visor and lifting her rifle she used the scope to peer through a hole in the wall of the ruined ramen shop she was hiding in to check the streets for Cabal patrol.

 _This was the ramen shop Momo tried to convince me to come to. Wish I'd taken her up on that when we had the chance…_ The thought made her queasy.

With the streets clear she got up, ran to the collapsed building and slid into the hole. It was dark, very dark. The opening didn't even provide enough light to see by. She didn't dare move and focused on listening. Nothing except for her own erratic heartbeat and shallow breathing. Suddenly, something grabbed her rifle from her then took hold of her arm, dragging her in further. She screamed, which sounded more like a croak with her unused vocal cords, and began kicking and struggling against whatever had her.

"Ow! Ow! Hey, calm down! Be quiet before they hear you!" A voice called out. Blue immediately stopped. "We're on the same side. Now come on!" This time it gently nudged her further into the darkness. She could only trust them since she couldn't see for herself. They walked, she more often stumbled, until she could no longer see the light from the hole behind her. Eventually, they stopped and the thing released her arm. A moment of panic consumed her and she reached out blindly into the dark.

"I'll have the light on in a second."

Then the area flooded with light. Blue squinted until her eyes adjusted. They were in an old subway tunnel. The metal tracks were rusted, the wooden supports cracked, broken, or gone completely. Rocks had fallen from the slowly collapsing ceiling and littered the tunnel. In front of her crouched an Exo Hunter in front of an electric lantern. Lining the walls stood were approximately two dozen civilians, six Guardians, and several Tower engineers. The civilians were mostly women, children, elderly, and injured. The engineers had plasma cutters and lift devices used in construction and appeared to have been removing debris so they could move through the tunnel.

"We were about to leave when my Ghost detected another life form. I'm guessing she meant you."

"Indeed!" A cheery voice agreed followed by beeps. The droid transmatted out from the Hunter's pack and nodded at Blue.

"Anyone else in the area?" The Hunter asked the Ghost.

"No other life forms outside of Cabal detected in the immediate area."

"Good." The Hunter turned to her, "The name's Sarah, what's yours?"

Blue paused out of habit before she realized, _Right, I actually need to talk to people now_ , "Blue."

"Nice to meet you. You're a little busted up but think you can shoot?" Sarah handed Blue her rifle back. Blue took it in her right hand and nodded.

"Alright, then let's get moving. Guardians flank each side of the civilian line. Light or no it's our job to protect them, so don't wuss out on us now, ya hear?" She chuckled and walked to the front of the line.

Blue watched as the citizens started to follow and Guardians walked on either side, all sporting some type of weapon. Ghosts hovered on the outsides of their Guardian and provided light to show the way. The sight made her heart ache for her own Ghost. But he couldn't be dead, he was out looking for her...yeah. Blue blinked as she head children crying and their mothers shushing them to be silent. Sighing, she took up the rear of the line along-side another Hunter.

* * *

The tunnels were long, debris blocking most of the way creating a jungle gym for them to traverse through. The engineers were a big help with their tools, able to move stuff out of the way or just cut through it. She smiled and made a mental note to thank them later. They really did deserve more credit for the work they put in at the Tower.

When they came upon a station the group stopped for a rest and Sarah and two other Guardians advanced to scout ahead. Blue looked around the station which was surprisingly intact save for the entrance and exit which were completely blocked from a cave in. Some directory signs still hung on the walls in broken cases and outlined the underground subway lines beneath the City. Most were probably closed down like this one ages ago…

She started to recall reading something about the tunnels years ago. When the City was first being built they were going to be the main method of transportation for supplies from the outside. They were supposed to be heavily guarded with hidden entrances and exits. But the cost to make them became too high, the already limited resources were better used elsewhere, and the Wilds were more dangerous than people thought. So the Vanguard shut them down and ordered the tunnels to be filled. Some never got around to it, like this one. At least they were serving a purpose now.

Blue wondered what she'd do once they got to safety. She reached out and wiped the grim off the window of the map display and wondered if this was the closest she'd ever get to see the City again. She had tried to talk to Sarah during their trek through the tunnel but the Hunter had become distant at best. She didn't like having to work with anyone and this much social interaction was taking a toll on her attitude. From what Blue gathered the Hunter was planning on coming back to the City to spy on the Cabal after finishing the escort and didn't want anyone coming with her. The other Guardians plans weren't much better. The three Titans wanted to try mounting a counter-offensive again after gaining more Guardians. The two Warlocks wanted to sneak into the City and study the device on the Traveler to find out a way to remove it. The other Hunter was on the same page as Sarah.

Blue touched the dead Ghost still sitting in her sling. At least she had two goals so far: Lay this Ghost to rest and look for her own. After that, she wasn't sure. How could she be a Guardian without the Light, after all? Could she even help people?

The quick and frantic chattering between several Guardians caught her attention. One Guardian hushed another and it was then she realized the rest of the people around them were also going silent. The station became eerily quiet. A Warlock had come back from scouting ahead and was talking with a Titan. The Titan in turn nodded and headed into the tunnel with the Warlock. Blue got up and crept over to the other two Titans.

"What's going on?" She whispered.

"Sarah spotted a Cabal patrol near the exit ahead. It seems they found out what we've been doing," He answered and glanced at her sling, "Stay put." With that, he took off down the tunnel. The remaining two Guardians were injured like her and told to stay there.

Blue frowned and touched the dead Ghost again. She didn't want a repeat of what happened before. Something inside her was growing anxious as the able-bodied Guardians disappeared into the darkness ahead. Confronting the Cabal head-on had backfired so far and if the Guardians failed to take out the patrol that would put the civilians in danger. She looked back at them. They weren't much different now: lightless and scared. But the people still looked to them for support. She frowned. Light or no she had to do something.

Blue stood tall and ran back over to the map. It detailed the rail lines, where they connected, where they started, stations, and more importantly where they let out. The tunnel they were going through was the most direct route outside the City. Probably also the most obvious entrance and exit from the outside. Most of the civilian must have come out that way already. It was no wonder the Cabal already found it. According to the map, there were a series of thin orange lines next to the bolder blue subway lines but they started and stopped more abruptly.

She took out her journal and made a quick copy of the map before glancing around and spotting what she was looking for. An engineer with a plasma cutter was sitting on a bolder looking exhausted. Weaver was sewn on the name tag on his uniform. She trotted over to him and waved. He blinked at her and waved back. She motioned for him to follower her. He sighed and stood and she led him over to the map.

"Do you know anything about these rail lines?"

"Uh...Kind of."

Blue pointed at the orange lines, "Do you know what these are?"

"Hm…" He stared at the map for a few moments, "Looks like service tunnels. Put there for people to work on the subway lines or on sections of the Wall above before the subways were closed. According to this...there should be one on the other side of this station." He pointed to the opposite side of the station where most of the ceiling had caved in.

Squinting, Blue could see a small sized hole, only big enough for a child to fit through, where debris collapsed part of the wall. She smiled and jogged over to it and started clearing rocks away. Weaver had followed and was watching over her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Trying to find an alternate exit," She answered, "Going against the Cabal now won't work." She stepped back once enough rubble was cleared.

"Service tunnels won't take us to the end," Weaver said scratching his chin, "But...there's probably a hatch that goes up into the Wall. Might be able to get out that way."

Blue pointed at his plasma cutter, "Think that'll cut through this wall?"

He grinned, "Of course. Stand back." He turned on the device, cranked up the setting, and with a blue flare, an arc stream shot out. He started making the hole big enough that the adults and bulky Titans could fit through.

The commotion attracted the attention of the rest of their group. The civilians looking on in curiosity and the other engineers started to wander over. The two Guardians looking between them and the black corridor ahead. Blue ran over to them and explained her plan. If they could cut through the wall here they could bypass the patrol and come out through the service entrance inside the City Wall. From there they could cut a new exit if there wasn't another breach already, or locate another subway exit. It was risky but less risky than confronting a patrol head on. The Titan and Warlock seemed reluctant but agreed. The Warlock headed into the tunnel to inform the party moving forward and the Titan began rallying the citizens to prepare to move as soon the engineers cut through.

The service tunnels were much smaller than she anticipated due to fallen debris. The constructions lifts couldn't exactly move the stuff out of the way, so they relied on the plasma cutters to clear as much as possible.

"This better work, Blue…" Sarah grumbled as she caught her cloak on a stray piece of metal that tore the fabric.

Blue grimaced, looking at the map she had drawn. Weaver nudged her arm, getting her attention and pointing up. There was a metal ladder embedded into the wall that went straight up into a dark hole.

"That should be a service entrance," He said. He put the plasma cutter down and started up the ladder, Sarah's Ghosts accompanying him to provide light. The citizens were anxious, murmuring among themselves, unable to see past the person in front of them. Weaver's footsteps up the metal ladder echoed through the corridor until they stopped. The sound was shortly replaced by metal creaking like a rusty door hinge.

"Bingo!" Came his voice from above, "Guardian, come on up."

Blue blinked, looked at Sarah who shook her head. She looked back up before sighing and starting up the ladder, which was difficult given her broken arm. When she reached the top Weaver helped her to stand on the grated metal floor. Sarah's Ghost illuminated the space they were in, or at least some of it given it was an enormous area. They were inside the Wall, just as Weaver said. Giant metal structural beams crisscrossed through the air above, bracing the metal walls, eventually disappearing in the darkness above. A series of scaffoldings and metal walkways went through the space and along the walls, indicating constant states of repair and construction. It reminded her of the SIVA crisis when they had to go through the breach the Fallen created.

"Welcome to the inside of the Wall." Weaver smirked, "Impressive, huh?"

Blue nodded, "I was in it earlier and during the SIVA crisis when the Fallen cut through."

Weaver grimaced and looked around as if checking to make sure there wasn't any there.

"I remember that!" Came Sarah's voice as she climbed the ladder and joined them, "Damned Fallen made a mess. God, I hope they don't decide to rear their ugly heads while all this shit is going on…"

Weaver shivered, "Don't jinx us."

Sarah waved a hand dismissively and walked away with her Ghost at her side to scope the area. Able-bodied people made an assembly line to carry up the heavy equipment and luggage up the ladder. Then one by one the citizens, engineers, and remaining Guardians made it up and filled the space. Sarah returned a few minutes later.

"Coast is clear." She said, "So now what?"

Blue frowned and looked at the wall separating them from the outside. It was thicker than she thought, possibly too thick to cut through with their plasma cutters. Cries began to erupt from the crowd of people.

"Don't tell us we're trapped in here!" Someone shouted.

"We should have kept going through the subways."

"Some Guardians you lot are!"

Children began to cry and the noise of voices, both angry and scared, grew louder. The Guardians attempts to calm them only seemed to anger the crowd more.

Sarah whistled, "Yo! Hey, quiet! You want the space rhinos to hear you?!"

The noise steadily grew soft.

"Good. Look, we've made it this far, we're not gonna turn back, alright?!" She turned to Blue and Weaver and spoke quietly, "What do we do?"

Blue hesitated but Weaver spoke up for her, "Should be a thinner part of the wall around here somewhere that leads to a maintenance shaft. We cat into one of them and cut out from there." Weaver looked up at the Ghosts floating above, "With a little help our cutters can be modified to a higher intensity which should get us through."

Blue smiled gratefully at him.

"See, people? Not all hope is lost. Just stay calm," Sarah announced before turning to her Ghost and instructing her to look for a weak point. The droid dutifully went about scanning the wall, the crowd slowly following.

It didn't take long to find a thinner wall and the Guardian's Ghosts went about modifying the engineers' plasma cutters, bypassing the safety and increasing the intensity. They started cutting, sparks flying off the metal from the beam.

"Thanks," Blue said to Weaver when no one else could hear.

Weaver shrugged, "No biggy. People panic, just gotta keep 'em calm. Once we're out they'll be thanking you, just wait."

"They should be thanking you guys. This would have never worked without your help. We would have had to go up against the Cabal again and might have gotten everyone killed…"

"Nah, you've figured something out. That's what you Guardians do, save the day. This stuff is just our job." They watched the other engineers slowly cutting a doorway through the metal, already almost through.

"You should get more credit," Blue whispered.

The engineers finished cutting the new doorway and stood back as the metal piece fell inwards. Right before it hit the ground they got a clear view of the small room in front of them. On the opposite wall, supposedly leading outside, an identical door was in the process of being cut through the metal, sparks lighting up the room. When their metal hit the ground with a resounding BOOM the sparks on the other side stopped.

"Shit!" Sarah cursed and darted to one side of their doorway, shouldering her rifle, "I bet you it's the Fallen!"

The civilians had started panicking again, voices increasing as the engineers took it upon themselves to try and shush them while moving them back to safety.

"Told you not to jinx us!" Weaver hissed at Sarah who flipped him off.

All eight Guardians made a semi-circle around the opening, weapons drawn, as the sparks on the other side started again.

"When that breaks, give them hell!" A Titans wearing a horned helmet said.

"What if it's Cabal?" A Warlock asked.

"All the more reason to!"

"But they're stronger, we can't face them without the Light!"

Another Titan jumped in, "What if it's someone trying to help us? Ghost, can you scan the other side?"

"Life signs, yes, but not Cabal. Too much interference from Cabal signals to determine if it's the Fallen!" The droid responded. This one was missing one of his fins.

Blue's heart was pounding too loud in her ears to pay attention as they argued. Eyes fixed on the sparks as they drew closer and closer to the floor. She struggled to hold her rifle against her hip to aim and the clatter of the dead Ghost against her armor alerted her to the fact she was shaking. She forced herself to take deep breaths. When the sparks reached the floor, even before the metal fell, shooting started.


	4. Chapter 4

_Scanning..._

 _-Negative-_

 _Scanning…_

 _-Negative-_

"Uuuhhg!" Ghost groaned. That was the forty-third grouping of people he's scanned in the last few hours. None matched the identification of his Guardian. He scrutinized every face that passed and muttering to himself as he went. Awoken were unfortunate enough to be subjected to longer scrutiny. It'd make sense to only scan Awoken but he was being paranoid and didn't want to miss her by accident. People gasped, stopped, swatted at him, or walked away and ignored him. He even bothered the scouts who had come from the Wilds to help the refugees. Something about camps set up somewhere far off but he wasn't really paying attention. It was imperative he find his Guardian. He wasn't the only one preoccupied. Other Ghosts were looking for their Guardians and Guardians for Ghosts or teammates.

But he wasn't just _looking_ for his Guardian, he'd definitely find her. Some Ghosts floated aimlessly around as a stark reminder of having been severed from their Guardian. Not like his, nope, nope, nope. He'd find her.

He flew in the face of another scout to peek under the persons' hat for a moment only to quickly determine the person was male. Ghost made to fly off again but was plucked out of the air and brought him to eye level. Ghost trembled at the man's glare.

"I've been watching you pestering people for a while now. What do you want?"

"I-I'm looking for my Guardian! She's an Awoken Warlock. Her name is Blue, or at least that's what I call her, I don't know her real name if she had one. She has blue hair, eyes, and skin. She would have crashed somewhere along the outside of the Wall, not far from here. She doesn't talk much. Although if she doesn't talk to you then you might not know that because she wouldn't tell you...But you can't have encountered many Awoken Warlocks with all that's going on. Or maybe some of your friends, please, could you ask them for me? I-"

"Stop!" The scout shouted and released him, "No I haven't seen anyone like that, now for the love of God stop talking! Look, I'm sorry, but right now I and everyone else have more important things to worry about! Stop getting in the way." He began to walk away.

Ghost started for a moment before zipping in front of the man again, "But-but couldn't you at least ask around?! I'm sure there's not many-"

"Ghost!"

He stopped and froze for a moment. That voice was familiar. Looking over the scout's shoulder he recognized the spikes of white hair that stood up and fanned out around the pale face like a peacock's tail. A matching the set of silver glowing eyes peered out beneath the sweep of her bangs. To her right floated a familiar grumpy Ghost. The Hunter flashed him a smile and waved.

"Momo!" He shouted, his shell pieces spinning erratically before zooming over to her.

"Finally, jeez…" The scout muttered and walked away.

Ghost flew right up to the Hunter, Spector and him spinning around one another for a moment in greeting before he focused on her, "Have you seen Blue?"

She blinked at him, "No, I thought she'd be with you."

The pupil of Ghost's eye shrunk in shame and disappointment. Of course, she'd expect a Ghost to be with it's Guardian where it was supposed to be.

"No…" He admitted, "We got separated."

Momo frowned and looked about as upset as he felt, "Damn…."

Ghost looked around, "Where's Yaiz?"

"Mars last I heard…He went there to check up on reports of increased Cabal activity but I haven't received any messages since the attack. Guess we know now what they were preparing for." Momo clenched her fists and glared at the ground.

"Momo…" Ghost realized how she must be struggling to contain herself. Her husband was trapped on a planet infested with the same race that just conquered their City with no Light or powers to defend himself. If chances for survival of those left on Earth were slim he didn't want to even try to calculate what they would be on Mars.

"We'll….we'll get through this. We'll find Yaiz, take back the City and our Light. He's smart and he's an Exo so it's harder to hurt him, right? I'm sure he'll lie low until help arrives. Knowing him he may even sabotage a few Cabal operations over there." Ghost was grasping at straws. He knew he was but it was worth it to see the smirk on her face.

"Yeah, I'm sure he is." A shout attracted her attention to the front of the line, "I better get back to work. We'll find Blue, too. When we're all together again we'll show the Cabal that Guardians are more than our Light." She smirked and Ghost nodded. "I'll keep an eye out for her. You and Spector stay tuned into the same frequency so we can stay in contact. Short range only so don't go far and scrambled it to keep the Cabal from eavesdropping."

Ghost looked at Spector who had remained silent through the conversation. He looked back at Ghost and transferred the frequency.

"Got it."

"Good luck, Ghost. I hope one of us finds her soon."

"Me too." With renewed vigor, he flew off again to restart his search through the crowds of refugees. With one last look back he caught sight of Spector. The Hunter's Ghost had been watching him and something about the look in his optic made Ghost's hope waver.


	5. Chapter 5

Bullets ricocheted off the interior of the of the maintenance shaft as several Guardians opened fire. Civilians screamed.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Sarah called as she and the others ducked out of the way of the ricochet. The shooting stopped and the thick metal fell to the ground, the boom resounding through the entire corridor. Light poured in through the passage and Blue squinted against it. No one lowered their guns.

"Don't shoot!" A voice called from the other side.

"Ha! Told you!" The horned Titan shouted.

A figure stepped into the light, silhouetted against it they couldn't make out any features. The person walked into the corridor with the other Guardians, taking off his helmet. By the light of the Ghosts, they could see it was another Guardian. A human male Warlock dressed in black and silver robes with a mop of black hair and a short beard smiled at them. Blue dropped her rifle in shock causing him to look at her. She removed her helmet. They stared at each other for several moments before both pointing at one another at the same time.

"You! Uh...Uh, shit what was your name….Oh! Blue!"

She smiled and nodded. The other Guardians glanced at one another in confusion before their attention was drawn to more people coming in through the new passage. They didn't look like Guardians but regular people dressed more like scavengers. They began ushering people out through the doorway and checking on the injured.

"Wow, I'm honestly surprised you survived this long!" Garrett said.

She tilted her head and furrowed her brows.

He blanched, "Uh, I-I mean I'm happy. Lots of Guardians haven't made it out alive, after all. But it's good to see you again." He went to shake her hand but stopped when he saw the sling, "Uh...So, you make use of that notebook I gave you?"

She nodded, putter her helmet down and taking the book from her pocket. By this point the cover was well worn, pages warped, and pieces of paper stuck out of the sides.

"Very good. Can I see?"

She nodded and handed it to him. He flipped through for a few moments.

"Continuing your interest in the Hive I see. I'm sure your Ghost has told you that can be dangerous. He tell you of Toland?"

She rolled her eyes and nodded.

"Course," He chuckled, "Where is that little voice box of yours anyway?"

She frowned, looking down.

"Oh...I'm sorry."

She smiled and shook her head, "I'm sure he's ok. I'll find him."

He blinked and hesitated a moment, "Yeah….Yeah, I'm sure." Garrett looked up as the Guardians finished escorting the civilians out and abruptly changed the subject, "Hey! So wanna hear how my Fireteam took out Aksis?"

"That was you?!"

"Yup! Well, my team did a lot of the work, but I helped! Got looots of good info!" He patted his chest pocket where his journal was tucked away, "So we were lucky to have this Titan who took out Splicer tanks in the Plaguelands, so the guy knew what he was doing. He's become a Vanguard favorite. So, anyways…"

Garrett's voice echoed through the corridor as they made for the exit and went out into the world.

* * *

"They must have seen people coming out this way so we were trying to create a new exit when we ran into you," Garrett whispered as he crouched next to Blue on the ledge. Looking over the rock Blue got a good view of an emergency exit, which was located about half a mile from their makeshift one. Red Legion, as his Ghost informed her, a patrol was guarding it: two Psions, four Legionnaires, and a Centurion.

"I had just come out with a group of people when the Cabal got here. There are still people trapped inside, Guardians too."

Blue couldn't hear any commotion from the entrance so she assumed they were either hiding or dead. She hoped for the former. Blue looked behind her where Sarah, Weaver, and the horned Titan, who she learned is named Jack, were huddled behind the rock face below them. There were ten Guardians in total and six civilian volunteers with them from both groups. The civilian volunteers were mostly engineers, armed with the plasma construction equipment or guns. The others were scattered across various hiding places around the exit.

The teams had managed to corral the civilians and the injured through the forest towards to extraction points set up by people who live past the Wilds. Garrett's team encountered scouts of people who lived deep in the Wilds. No one bothered to question it yet, choosing to ignore the fact that no one was supposed to be beyond the Wall. They simply counted their blessings that there was help and somewhere safe to go. The scouts had been in the area gathering supplies and food when the Cabal struck and they radioed for help. Trucks and planes were on the way to start moving people en masse. Until they arrive it was up to the Guardian to protect them.

"They could still be alive so we need to clear out the Cabal and get them out if they are. Unfortunately, since this place is compromised we can't continue to use it evac people. When the Cabal are taken care of and this tunnel cleared out we'll have to collapse it. Your subway exit too. We'll send word to other Ghosts to reroute escape routes through the holes you cut in the wall," Garrett explained.

"Great...so how do you propose to take care of the Cabal here?" Sarah asked from behind them.

"If my plan works we'll attack from both sides, inside and out."

"Takes a bit more coordination than we're currently capable of, don't you think? Comms are still down, how do we contact the people in there?"

Garrett smirked when a small light flickered at the very top corner of the exit. When the Cabal turned away it zipped up and over to the group unnoticed.

"There are Guardians and civilians trapped in the maintenance office inside. It's barricaded and the Cabal haven't discovered them yet. I have a com link up with a Ghost inside. The Guardians are preparing to attack from the inside when we give the signal!" The Ghost reported to Garrett.

"Thanks, Sayber," Garrett turned towards the others, "We take the Cabal off guard and attack from both sides. Hopefully, there's enough of us to overtake them."

"There's a Centurion down there." Sarah pointed out.

"Yeah, well...Each team is assigned to attack a certain group of those Cabal. Guess which unlucky straw I pulled."

Blue and Weaver looked nervously at each other.

Sarah shook her head, "This is nuts. Suicide."

"We have to try!" Garrett snapped, "Sync up your Ghosts so we can communicate. Er...Blue, you stay with me."

"The Guardians inside are in position," Sayber said before transmatting into Garrett's pack. Garrett took a look over the rocks before letting out a long breath and turning towards the others. "Blue and I will stay here, Jack and Weaver, you two find cover nearby. The four of us will rotate drawing his fire and shooting all we've got to take down his shield. When his shield is down Sarah will go for his head. There's a weak spot between the helmet and shoulder pieces. Stick a knife there and make him bleed then get back into cover as quickly as you can. We'll finish him off while he's bleeding out."

Sarah signed but nodded. Blue took inventory of her ammunition. She was low on rifle ammo but Garrett had strapped a blade to the end making a kind of bayonet. Garrett had a pulse rifle and a grenade just in case things got hairy. Sarah had her knives after having lent an unarmed Guardian her rifle. Jack had a machine gun and Weaver had the plasma cutter. Garrett motioned for everyone to take their places. Jack and Weaver took cover behind some shrubs, Sarah scaled a ledge out of sight, and Blue stayed with Garrett behind the rocks. Garrett waited until everyone was ready and the comm beeped notifying that the other teams were also ready. Finally, he looked at Blue and she nodded back. After a beat of three seconds, the pair ducked out from behind the rocks and opened fire on the Centurion.

He was taken off guard but recovered quickly, pulling up his shield and jetting into the air where he hovered. As he took out his blaster and shot the two jumped behind the rocks which shook with the force of the blast. On cue, Jack and Weaver jumped up and fired at the Centurion shield. The battle against the other Cabal was already raging across the way with the other Guardians. As if in sync the four went back and forth from ducking behind cover to firing until the shield broke.

Sarah jumped out from the cliffs above, knife in hand, and with a roar came down on the Centurion. It was glorious. Like something out of the Crucible. She could almost hear Shaxx screaming in triumph. And then the Centurion turned. It paid no mind to the hail of bullets assaulting it as it swung it's massive arm up and struck Sarah's side. The Huntress went spiraling to the ground where she lay still.

"Shit!" Garrett swore before ducking for cover and pulling Blue with him as the Centurion swung towards them. Blasts burst against the other side of the stone in thunderous rumbles. Blue strained to look and see if Sarah was still alive while Garrett took the short opportunities between blasts to shoot off rounds at the Cabal. Blue herd shouts from her team and curses but it was quickly drowned out with gunfire. Bullets rained on the Centurion from all sides. Blue, Garrett, Jack, Weaver, and the Guardians inside the tunnel unloaded everything they could on the beast but seemed to do little damage.

The Centurion swooped down to the Titan and pinned him to the ground with one it's massive legs. Jack had dropped his gun and struggled to reach for it but the Centurion pinned his arm. Blue and Garrett continued to fire on the Centurion but it did little to attract his attention. It swung a massive arm up at Jack. A high pitched 'whiiirrr' filled the air and the beam of the plasma cutter struck the side of the Centurion's head. It did just enough damage to pierce it's helmet, causing the Cabal's head to burst. Weaver let out a sigh of relief as the Cabal body tumbled to the ground before he helped up the Titan.

Guardians cheered and the ones ducking in the tunnel darted out and into cover outside to help finish off the Legionnaires. Still high on the adrenaline rush of seeing the Centurion taken out she almost missed the blue light fluttering inside the tunnel without a Guardian. It was a Ghost and it seemed to be chattering as it surveyed the field from a safe place. Blue ducked behind the rocks again as bullets hit their way. She looked at Garrett who was on his comm muttering something. Ah, that's the Ghost linking them up.

"Good, ready on your mark," Garrett said into the com before turning to Blue, "He's gonna give us the signal then we rush out and hit them from behind. Got it?"

She nodded.

There were a few moments of waiting. Then the rumble of gunfire halted, "Go!" The pair jumped out from behind the rocks. Blue took a moment to glance at the Ghost in the tunnel and she stopped. Black shell, gold embossing. Not just a Ghost, her Ghost. He spotted her and she realized she shouldn't have stopped.

"Guardian!" Ghost zipped out of hiding and went towards her.

For a moment she felt euphoric at seeing her friend again but the familiar sound of a Psion shot rang out, turning her blood to ice. It struck Ghost and with a spark he tumbled to the ground.


	6. Chapter 6

_\- MARS -_

Yiaz prided himself on being the stoic, calm and collected member of his regular Fireteam. Especially considering the fact he was usually dealing with a Hunter who had a Titan like mentality for charging into battle to knife things and a Warlock who could get distracted by a simple Hive Worm. He was the strategist, the leader. He was always focused and never let the situation get to him, most of the time. That was until he found himself stranded on Mars, attacked by an aggressive Cabal legion, and trying to regroup with a bunch of frantic Guardians he had only just met. Oh, and his Light was gone, all theirs was, so there's that…

He grumbled. When he received a broadcast for any Guardians near Mars to scout out the planet based on recent readings of increased in Cabal activity he agreed to go. Scouting missions were usually Hunter gigs but Yiaz had a lull between missions and he thought he might get the chance to bash some Cabal skulls. That being said, scouting missions were supposed to be simple, easy, at least in his book. But no, of course, that was not the case. Instead, a heavily armed crew of Cabal attacked him the moment he arrived, destroying his ship in the process. He rallied with other Guardians in the Buried City to try and form a counteroffensive. Then the Light disappeared. When he had agreed to come here he wasn't anticipating this shit.

Crouched behind some ruins, he was busy shooting at the approaching Legionnaires a few hundred yards away while an injured Hunter sat next to him. In a nearby building, a Warlock and Hunter worked together to jerry-rig a Cabal device into a makeshift bomb. Another Titan and Hunter were hidden in surrounding structures providing cover fire.

"Damn…" He cursed and chanced a glance over to the Hunter. She was bleeding from her side and her Ghost was frantically working to heal her as best as it could. They had already lost two other Guardians and learned from their respective Ghosts that they could no longer be revived. His Ghost, Circuit, was still offline and had been since the Light went away. He kept a mental note to try not to die or get injured in the meantime. Something burst overhead and parts of the stone wall fell in near them.

"We can't stay here!" Yiaz shouted.

The Hunter took her hand away from her side which was soaked in blood, "You go ahead."

"I'm not leaving you here!" Yiaz returned fire around the corner.

"I'm a Hunter, I work better alone anyway."

Yiaz grunted, "Forgot what it was like to work with someone who actually behaves like a Hunter." He silently cursed Momo for spoiling him. He flipped his short range comlink to the two Guardians working on the bomb, "How's it coming you two?"

Static for a few moments and then, ::"These systems are different from the Cabal we usually deal with but the bomb should be ready in a minute. Can't guarantee how effective it'll be."::

"As long as it distracts them long enough that's fine!" Yiaz flipped the comm open to all the Guardians in the area, "Listen when the bomb goes off everyone make a break for it! Plan your escape route now and when I say the word prepare to run for it. We'll try to regroup in the Barrens."

Thankfully, everyone complied, which was a big improvement from when the shooting first started and there was a power struggle for leadership resulting in the loss of the two Guardians amid the chaos. When the reality of their situation hit everyone was more willing to cooperate. Yiaz knew there was a Cabal base near the Barrens along with Vex but there were also a lot of caves, rocks, and hills to hide under. With any luck, the Vex may have temporarily cleared out due to the increased Cabal activity. Valley of the Kings would be better but it was too far and through too many Cabal infested areas.

There were a few more moments of shooting before the other Guardians signaled that the bomb was ready. Yiaz gave the order over the comm to prepare to run.

"Time to go," He said as he lifted the Hunter, slinging one of her arms around his shoulder and peeking around the corner.

"Leave me," She grunted again, her Ghost nodded gratefully to Yaiz before phasing into the Hunter.

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen," he waited until the device dropped into the center of the Cabal group, ducking behind the wall. One of the Guardians shot it and it exploded. Yiaz didn't stop to see how many, if any, Cabal fell. He shot out from hiding, dragging the limping Hunter with him, and ran.


	7. Chapter 7

_\- Then -_

She gasped in as much air as her lungs could fill and was then immediately thrown into a coughing fit. It took a while but she gradually remembered how to breathe. The ringing in her ears started to fade and she could hear that someone was talking.

"Hehe, it worked! I've been waiting a long time to say this," the voice cleared his throat, "Eyes up, Guardian!" he said with pride.

She looked up. Nope, definitely an it. A kind of robot hovered above her, some pyramid-like shapes protruding from its sphere center where a blue 'eye?' stared at her. She gasped and shot backward until she hit a wall and also her head. Grasping it and screwing her eyes shut she groaned in pain. Pain. That felt familiar.

"Whoa, no, no, no, hey, it's ok! Just-just relax. Everything's gonna be ok, Guardian."

"W-wha…" She coughed.

"Oh, right! Standard procedure, standard procedure, oh-what was that speech we're supposed to say? Hmm...Oh, right!" it muttered to itself before looking back to her and making a sound like clearing his-its throat, "You've been dead a long time so you probably feel a little strange and you're gonna see a lot of stuff you won't understand. Like me for example! I'm a Ghost. Well, now I'm your Ghost. Hehe, that feels great to finally say!" it bounced and laughed. She stared at it. "Uh...right, so we should get out of here and get you to the Last City. You're a Guardian after all so you'll need equipment and new armor, I was only able to put you in something simple, and food and-Oh! You need to meet the Speaker! He'll tell you all sorts of stuff and-"

He was still rambling on but she stopped listening and started looking around. She couldn't remember how she got where she was, or who she was for that matter, but she seems to just know things. She rubbed her hand against the floor. Metal. Covered in a thick layer of dust and mildew. Ew. Looking at her now dirty glove and up her arm, she seemed to be wearing some makeshift armor he-it called it? To her left were the mangled remains of two chairs in front of what once was a console. The windshield and pretty much all of the nose of the ship was gone. Dirt and roots had overtaken most of the interior cockpit. A spaceship, her mind supplied, but something wasn't quite right about it. Maybe because it was upside down and ships don't usually go into the dirt. Somehow she knew that if this ship was still intact, functioning, and right side up, she could pilot it. She shook her head and began looking for the exit.

"Oh! This way!" Ghost quickly caught on to her shuffling around and darted to the back end of the ship and up a small hole. She followed. It led into the cargo unit where a giant hole was gouged in the bottom, which was above them, and light spilled through. Squinting she crawled through to the outside. It was a graveyard of decaying ships being retaken by nature. Looking back, the ship she had been in was buried in the ground and almost completely hidden by shrubs and grass. A large tree which perched over the area where the cockpit probably was.

"I've been looking for you for a loooong time." Ghost said, "Needless to say this wasn't the first place I looked and when I finally got here I think I checked eeeeeevery ship before I found this one. It's well hidden!"

She blinked and started walking. He zipped over to hover above her shoulder, "We need to get to the City but it's so far from here so we need to find a ride."

She nodded and kept walking even though she didn't quite understand.

"You don't talk much do you?" It asked.

She blinked at him and they stared at each other for a long moment.

"That's ok!" It said with too much enthusiasm, "I love talking! Other Guardians and even Ghosts said I'm annoying, but why? I mean, it's not wrong to voice your opinions and thoughts or at least I think so. You're a Warlock, I can tell, so you must be a very curious person. Just think of all the things I could tell you and show you and-uh-" It suddenly, somehow, looked very self-conscious, "That is if you want me to, I mean."

She thought for a moment and decided she kind of liked the idea. She nodded.

"You don't think I'm annoying?"

She thought again and the shook her head back and forth.

"Great!" It squealed, "So do you have a name?"

She ignored that particular question in favor of walking up to another ship to run her hand along the dirt and rust encrusted side. This ship was different from the one she was in like they were made by different species. She wasn't sure how she knew that. _Interesting_.

"I don't think any of these ships will work. They've been here a long time, too. Since the-uh! Well, you don't need to know about that yet. Maybe we can find something else to get us to the City."

A scream rang out in the distance, but it was no Human scream. Somehow she knew this was different. Alien. A chill ran up her spine. Fear. This was somehow familiar too.

"Fallen," It hovered in front of her, "We need to lay low until we can get you a weapon or something. Don't worry, I'll look out for you and try to keep you safe."

She blinked. The little machine was showing empathy? No, something inside her said, not just a machine. More. She looked closer at it-him. His body might look like a machine but something in his eye told her he was alive, to her at least, and he cared about her. _Very interesting_. It made her feel warm. Warmer than she'd felt in a long time and she liked it.

She cleared her throat and smiled at him, "I'll look out for you too."

Ghost seemed startled but she could tell there was a smile within him.

* * *

 _\- Now -_

Garrett grabbed Blue by her collar and bolted behind some trees as the Cabal turned on them.

"Tck, dammit! Idiot, why did that Ghost-?" Garrett grunted and returned fire on the Cabal. Blue couldn't move as she stared at Ghost. He wasn't moving. The dead Ghost hidden in her sling felt heavier than ever now. Her heart raced as she struggled to breathe and her vision began to tunnel. "Blue we need to move!" She could hear Garrett urging her but she didn't listen. She screwed her eyes shut. _Enough_! Time to take a page from Momo's book.

Blue dropped the rifle, snatched the grenade from Garrett's belt, activated it, and hurled it over the rocks into the Cabal territory. The bomb exploded and the shooting stopped. Blue thought she heard Garrett curse but she ignored it in favor of grabbing her rifle and running out into the opening. Two Legionnaires were down, the others stunned. Blue opened fire. She took out one Legionnaire as the Guardians regained their composure to take advantage of the Cabal's hesitation. Bullets rained down on the stunned patrol, effectively mowing the rest of them down. The Psion was quicker as it ducked out of fire behind some boulders.

 _Good_. That Psion was hers. Blue vaulted over its rocky hiding place, surprising the Psion. She came down on top of it and slamming it to the ground, its gun skittering off across the ground. Grabbing the rifle she brought the bayonet down on the Psion again and again and again and again.

She didn't know how many times she stabbed it but eventually, the blade broke off, forcing her to stop and drop the rifle. She panted while glaring down at the dead Psion. Its blood and black oil covered her and she felt too hot with rage. She could hear some Guardians and the volunteers in the background whooping and cheering for their victory along with approaching footsteps.

"Are you crazy?!" Garrett shouted, "You could have gotten killed! Or if that grenade was off even by a little bit someone could have gotten hurt or worse! What the hell were you thinking?!"

"Great job, Warlock!" Jack had come over and gave her a friendly smack on the back, "That was a victory for the record books! I've seen Titans rush in and do stuff like that but rarely a Warlock. Wait until Shaxx hears about this." He laughed. Blue shrugged him off, dropping the broken rifle. She stumbled over to her friend and collapsed to her knees.

She reached out a hand to him but he wasn't moving. Just like before, just like the others. Her chest and throat were tight and her stomach twisted. Someone was calling her from behind but she couldn't be bothered to care about the rest of the world right now. To have lost her best friend once already, yet hope for his survival, was one thing. But this? This wasn't fair. _He was RIGHT THERE and the Cabal took him away! Just like they took everything else, everyone else._ She had promised to look after him all those years ago and she failed. _It's not fair, it's not fair, it's not-_

A blue light blinked. Blue didn't move and stopped breathing.

Then again, a blue flicker of light from his optic before it remained steady and then looked around. Blue quickly tore off her helmet, not caring where it landed or even if there were any Cabal still alive that could shoot her.

"Blue!" Ghost shouted as he focused on her, his voice sounding more metallic and overlaid with static. Half of his shell was missing on one side and more were damaged but he was alive. He plowed into her chest, shouting a chorus of 'Blue! Blue! Blue!'. She winced and hissed in a breath, the jarring movement having agitated the injury to her side and her good hand flew up to hold it.

"Oh, you're hurt! I'm so sorry, here…" he trailed off and a moment later she was engulfed in a familiar warm, tingling light, "Sorry, I got a bit carried away there. Was I out for a moment? No matter! Guardian, the Light it's-it's gone and when I couldn't find you after the crash I thought….Well, I thought I'd lost you."

Blue blinked back tears and removed her makeshift sling, flexing her unused muscles to regain feeling. She looked up at her Ghost, her Little Light, and a bright smile spread over her face. She reached up and plucked the droid out of the air before nuzzling him to her cheek.

"Ahahaha! Did you miss me?" He chuckled.

Blue lowered him away from her tear stained face and nodded vigorously.

"I missed you too," she could hear the smile in his voice.

Blue smiled back and drew the little droid up to rest her forehead on the top of his broken shell.

"Troublemakers, the two of you," Garrett sighed as they looked up at him, "Well the Cabal here are dead but there will be more soon so we should get going. Is that everyone?" he pointed at the small group of people coming out of the tunnel.

"Yeah," Ghost answered, "There were a lot of people coming out this way earlier, which is probably what attracted the Cabal's attention. When the patrol showed up we got split from the larger group and hid. Some Guardians closed off the entrance to the tunnel in the City so more people wouldn't get stuck. Oh! That reminds me," noises came from him like trying to find a radio signal mixed with a lot of static, "Guys, can you hear me? We made it out, the Cabal patrol is down and you'll never guess what I found!"

::"Some dignity?":: Spector's voice crackled over the comm.

Ghost huffed, "Already have plenty of that, thank you! I found my Guardian, I found Blue! A troop of Guardians came to help and she was with them."

::"Great! Are you ok, hun?":: Momo chimed in.

Blue nodded with a big smile, happy to hear her friend was alive.

"She's fine" Ghost answered, "The Cabal patrol is dead and we've got the last of people out of the tunnel. We'll be heading your way soon."

::"Good! We were just about to double back for an assist. Civilians here are at the pickup. I'll let the scouts know to wait for you. See ya soon.":: then her comm cut out.

"I'll get everyone moving," Garrett nodded, "and hey, I'm glad you two found each other."

Blue smiled gratefully at him as he turned and walked away. She looked back at her Ghost but his attention was drawn to the ground. Following his gaze, she saw the broken shell of the Titan's Ghost she had been carrying. It must have fallen out of her sling when she was healed.

"What…?"

"They...saved me."

Ghost looked at her, "Saved you?"

She didn't answer and only picked up the dead Ghost, "We need to lay them to rest when we can."

"What? But I don't have enough Light to revive it and it can't return to the Great Consciousness. Not with the Cabal...well, you know..."

"Then we'll bury her."

"What? But I-Uh...ok. Ok, we will."

Blue looked up at the group of civilians, engineers, and Guardians before smiling back at him,

"Come on. Let's go."

"Yeah, let's go," he said cheerfully before settling himself on her shoulder as they joined the group.


	8. DISCONTINUED

Author's Note:

*DISCONTINUED*

Hi guys! Sorry for the long absence but I'm going to discontinue this story. I haven't been in the mood to work on this anymore and my interest in Destiny has been waning for a while. I'll post a synopsis below of what was supposed to happen and I just never got around to writing.

Yiaz-5 regroups with those who survived the trek on Mars in a cave. They hatch a plan to break into the Cabal base to gain access to information and find out what's going on as well as sabotage a squadron who are supposed to ship out to Earth. After accessing a Cabal panel they discover the Light is gone and the Traveler is taken. The group is disheartened but Yias tries to rally them to continue onward to sabotage the squadron. They're hesitant at first but eventually agree.

Back on Earth Momo is fretting over her husband as her group recouperates at the Farm. Momo, Garrett, Blue, and a new Titan agree to help Momo steal one of Hawthorns ships to go to Mars and retrieve any stranded Guardians there.

The rest of the story plays out as the team from Earth go to Mars, engage in space dog fights with Cabal ships, and eventually make it to the planet to rescue as many stranded Guardians as possible.

The team on Mars break into the Cabal base, fight their way in, and sabotage the squadron so their ships can't go to Earth. They meet up with the team from Earth and make it back safely. While the Vanguard is semi-ok with their efforts to rescue stranded Guardians Hawthorn is pissed about one of her ships being taken, so Momo takes the full brunt of the blame and will be put on suspension once the war is over/if they win the war.


End file.
